Many roads in the town of Big Flats have been named for the early settlers
that lived on them. Take Eacher Hollow that was named for Billy Eacher,
or Breed Hollow named for the very early Breed family. The Breeds had a
real show place for the area. They had a famous Jersey herd, peddled quantities
of butter, operated their own creamery and a busy lumber mill, and had
huge orchards on their property.

Winters Road was named for the John Winters family who owned the farm
at the south end of it. Later this homestead belonged to Martin Hammond
and in 1881 a new road was cut through to reach the railroads from Main
St. to Maple St. Mr. Hammond did not want the road cut through there and
so when it was completed he used it to drive hogs for shipment on the railroad.
It became known as Hog Alley since it was most generally full of hogs.
Later Hog Alley was tagged as Hammond St.

Markel Hollow was named for the large family of Markels who lived there,
Kahler Road for George Kahler, father of John, Oscar and Anna Kahler Theuer,
Reasor Hollow for Clark Reasor, grandfather of Perry Reasor. The old Reasor
School House stood on the point of this road.

The Yawger Road was named fro Frank Yawger, father of Henry Yawger and
Capitola Yawger. Capitola was a long-time teacher of the Big Flats Union
School.

Miller Street in the Village was named for Robert Miller and Church
Street for the Presbyterian Church. River Street was named so because it
went toward the river and present day Route 352, old 17E, was always known
as the River Road.

Canal Street was named so from Main St. to the junction off present
day Olcott Rd., because the Feeder Canal crossed it. Much later part of
it became known as Hillview after the development that began there.

Owen Hollow used to go from Main Street to the junction of present day
Hillview and much later when the Olcotts bought so much property the name
become Olcott Road.

What is Owen Hollow today, used to be Shay Hollow for the Shaw family
whose house still stands. Later, although officially Shay Hollow, it was
called Thomas Hollow by many residents because of the large family of Thomases
who lived on it.

Goss Road was named for Banks Goss who lives on the large farm located
there today. Carpenter Road was named for William Carpenter and Harriet
Carpenter Taylor’s family, that built the lovely Carpenter homestead, and
on whose property Suburban Acres was developed.

Lowe Road was named for the Cornelius Lowe family and the 163 year old
homestead that stood until recently.

Chambers Road was named because the road goes to Chambers.

Halderman Hollow used to be known as Steege Hill Road because one of
the Steege brothers lived there. It was later named for the Halderman family
that owned property on the top of the hill and to the left. The road that
bears to the right was known as Mills Road for the Mills family who owned
the house and barn there.

Skunk Hill Ranch Road, now known as Harris Hill Road, used to be called
such because a skunk ranch was located there. Later, it took the name of
Harris Hill Road, named for Lt. Henry B. Harris an early soaring enthusiast
and member of the M.I.T. soaring group who had been killed on the Hill
in 1834.

Steege Hill Road, across the river, was named for the Steege family.

Hibbard Road, named for the Hibbards of Horseheads who owned a farm
at the top of the hill, was the stage coach line to Watkins.

Curren Road was named for the Robert Curren family. Curren Road used
to be what was also known as the River Road, but now is the name of the
small road that cuts across Harris Hill Road to Ziff’s Meat Market and
behind the Kountry Kitchen.

Garlick Road was named for Charles Garlick who owned a farm of 125 acres
two miles west of Horseheads in the Town of Big Flats. This road is now
called Colonial Drive.

Gardner Road named for the Gardner family has been dead ended at the
Schweizer Plant and is known now as Schweizer Road.

The Flat Iron was the triangle formed by Olcott Road, Hillview and Route
17.

The Hendy Creek Road was named for Col. John Hendy, said to be the first
settler of Newtown. (Present day Elmira.) The original Hendy Cabin was
located just southeast of Golden Glow, a part of the Town of Big Flats.

Leach Hill Road and Combs Hill Road off of the Hendy Creek Road was
both named for early families.

Pickaway was the very early name of the area where Harris Hill Development
is presently located. This was a stage coach route and along Pickaway was
a hotel built and owned by Joseph Rhodes, who was Art Devenport’s great,
great grandfather. There was a brewery along Pickaway and canal boats were
built near where the Drive-In Theatre now stands, but down by the river.

County Road 64, or what was known as the Horseheads-Big Flats Road or
Old Corning Road or Old 17, was known for many years as the Lake Road as
everyone used this road to go to the Lake.

Sing Sing Road got its name from Sing Sing Creek. This name of our road,
creek and schools is explained here by A. G. Hilbert, Town of Elmira Historian
in an article, for the Chemung Historical Journal.

WHY "SING SING’?

Recently, when one of the new schools in the Horseheads area was named
Sing Sing School, there was an undercurrent of indignation and confusion,
not only from newcomers to this area but even from older residents who
resented the "prison" connotation of the word. Perhaps a bit of explanation
in the form of local history would clarify the situation.

To the Indian of the pre-Sullivan period, the Chemung valley between
Waverly and Elmira, or the Indian towns of Tioga and Kanawaholla, was generally
known as "Chemung," a variation of a Delaware word meaning "Big Horn" or
"Cononque," the French variation of the Seneca word for horn. It was in
this area that finds of bones and tusks of pre-historic mammoths and mastodons
had been reported. Confirming the legends of the Indians a total of 9 tusks
have been found.

The level area in and around Elmira was aptly named "Skwedowa" or Great
Plain. The Indians had no name for the group of hills that stand alone
surrounded by a triangular valley between Elmira, Horseheads and Big Flats
but early settlers called this area "The Bachelor" since it was completely
isolated from its nearby brother and sister heights. But the area from
the Chemung narrows above Fitch’s Bridge to the three river junction at
Painted Post was known as "Achsining" or "Atsinasin."

Doty’s "History of Genessee Country" explains the name as follows:

"Achsining (Mount Achsining) south of the Chemung river and opposite
the mouth of Sing Sing Creek is a Delaware name meaning "stone on stone."
It is similar to Ossining on the Hudson but from a different dialect. The
hill takes its name from a Munsey (Delaware) village on the east side of
Sing Sing creek variously spelled Achsinnessink, Assinissink, Asinsan,
and Atsinsink.

James Vinton Stowell, archeologist, has verified the location of this
village on the present Reformatory farm at the foot of Bennett’s (formerly
Ford’s) Hill in Big Flats. While the hill opposite the mouth of Sing Sing
Creek with its palisaded type of steep slope does somewhat answer the description
of "stone on stone," there was farther west a phenomenon which could be
more aptly so named. More modern researchers believe the area was named
for the mounds of stone mentioned by David Zeisberger, the Moravian missionary.
In his diary for Oct. 3, 1767, he wrote, "about noon we arrived at Assinisink
previously burned and laid waste by the Mohawks – curiosities in the shape
of pyramids of stone are here to be seen. From them this place derives
its name. The two largest are over 2 or 3 stories high. In most cases a
flat stone rests on the top as if to keep off the rain – whether these
pyramids are natural or made by human hands I will leave to others to decide
– near here the Tioga divides into two branches, one goes north into the
land of the Senecas, the other to the west."

This last sentence indicated these stone piles to be in the vicinity
of Corning near Painted Post. Ellsworth Cowles, Corning historian and archaeologist,
has located the above mentioned village on Post Creek near its junction
with the Chemung River in the general area of the end of East Pulteney
St. At this point in the early days of Corning a covered bridge crossed
Post Creek to continue the stage road along the northeast bank southward
to Gibson. Since this roadway often was impassable during periods of high
water, an emergency dug road was built higher up on the bluff. Portions
of this dug road are still visible today. Early records indicate that on
this northeast bank there were 11 stone mounds or pyramids of various sizes.

The building of the D.L. & W. R.R. in 1881 along this northeast
bank forced the relocation of the original stage road. According to Harold
Van Dusen, Corning historian, railroad officials promised they would destroy
only those mounds absolutely necessary to get their roadbed through, but
when they finished, the eleven mounds were gone and there remained only
one huge rock, which local people named "Bible Rock".

Milton Brackman of Corning, who remembers playing in this vicinity as
a boy, describes "Bible Rock" as a slab of rock about t’ x 5’ x ½’
resting obliquely on a kind of pedestal of stone and dirt over 20 feet
high. It resembled an open book on the top of a lectern. He reported a
second formation nearby, this one on a pedestal of only 4 or 5 feet.

Again in recent years the Erie R.R. was moved out of the center of Corning
and relocated along side the D.L. & W. In this move, Bible Rock, the
last vestige of the original "stone on stone" disappeared.

Two hundred years after Zeisberger declined to try to explain their
origin, they still remain a mystery.

Our modern corruption of the original Indian name of this area from
Atsinasin to Sing Sing is therefore one that should be cherished with local
pride rather than association with the stigma attached to the well-known
structure on the Hudson River, Sing Sing Prison.

BIG FLATS FUN AND FROLIC

Compiled from interviews by Pam Farr. Did you ever wonder about the
recreation in Big Flats in years past? Wonder no more. Read on – smile
– laugh out loud – reminisce.

Dances…

In years past, neighborhood dances were very popular and every Saturday
night about a half dozen families would get together. An organ would often
be loaded on a wagon and taken to the hosts (who had moved the furniture
out of the living room and rolled up the rug). Round and square dancing
was a feature and there was almost always a fiddler.

Life in Big Flats was not easy, nor glamorous, but the Brick Block boasted
a third floor ballroom and the Buena Vista Hotel, built in 1835, offered
dancing classes. Each dancing class graduation featured a special invitation
issued for a grandiose ball in the Buena Vista Hotel ballroom.

The Masonic Hall, built in 1872, has been the scene of many, many dances
over the years. Family dances sponsored by the Masons and Eastern Stars
were held in the 1930’s. Parents and teen-agers came together for round
and square dancing every two weeks.

Greased Pole…

In the early 1900’s, by the town band stand, a pole was covered with
grease (Oleaginous Pole) and men tried to climb to the top of the pole
to reach a dollar bill. The retrieving was not an easy task and took some
ingenious doing. One dollar bill winner, Ross Marvin, put sand all over
the grease to make it to the top.

Cindered Path…

Many years ago, a cinder path ran from Corning to Elmira. This was a
very popular Sunday route for bicycle riders and many couples rode the
path for their Sunday date. (The dirt roads were very rutty and made bicycling
there impossible.) In the early 1900’s, you would pay $1.00 a year to the
town Constable for a bicycle tag that allowed you to use this path.

Baseball…

Very early in the 1900’s, Big Flats had a town baseball team that played
on the Miller Farm Ball Diamond (now a part of the Sod Farm.) This team
played mostly industrial teams. In the late 20’s and 30’s, the town baseball
team was in the Penn York League and played on Welles Field (nest to what
is now the Agway Plant, on Hammond Street.) They played teams from many
of the surrounding towns, away one week and home the next. This was an
extremely popular Sunday activity in Big Flats and drew large crowds.

Medicine Shows…

Medicine Shows were a big thing in years past. The Masonic Hall and
later the lot where the Episcopal Church was torn down on Main St. (the
Helen Middaugh home now) were the scene of shows such as: the "old Indian"
from Corning and Indian remedies; Mr. Quackenbush, a ventriloquist, hypnotists
and local talent shows which were always a top drawing card.

Donkey Baseball…

One year, the Big Flats Masons sponsored Donkey Baseball, which was
a "rave of the time all across N.Y. State." The town folks rode the hired
donkeys from base to base among a series of buckings, falls, bruises and
broken bones. After a serious injury, the Donkey Baseball man disappeared
with his animals leaving a trail of broken bones all across the state.

Box Socials…

Groups and especially church groups used Box Socials for fun fund raisers.
The women packed lunches in a box, which the men bid on and upon being
high bidder, the gentleman would get the box and the "packer" as his lunch
date.

PROGRAM

of

Entertainment & Supper

The Gentlemen

of the

Baptist Church

Big Flats, N. Y.

Wednesday Evening, June 27, 1894

The members, (of the male persuasion) of the Big Flats Baptist Church
will ekstend an harty greeting and substanshul wellkum to all the hungry
on the lawn of W. B. Leonard, Wensday Evening, Joon 27, 1894, at wich time
and plais the following Fairy William will be offerd for the egzminashun
and mastikashun by awl konsurned, "their Sisturs and their Kuzins and their
Ants." A charming Muzikel Program will be renderd phor the deldktashun
of the audients.

From a big Canoe Livery at Water and Main in Elmira, canoes were rented
and taken on the streetcar to Gibson. On a Sunday, 25 to 30 canoes could
be seen coming down the river.

Plays…

The Rev. Lillian Chapman made plays a very popular Big Flats Activity
after she convinced the Presbyterian Good Will Class to put on plays as
a fund raiser for the beginning of the Presbyterian Church House fund.

Minstrel Shows…

In 1949 – 1950, the Masons and Eastern Star began a very active traveling
Minstrel Show that raised money for the Masonic Hall and gained renown
throughout the area.

Sleigh Rides…

Saturday nights young people would get different residents to hitch
up a team to the sleigh and take them to Corning or Elmira. There the horses
were put in a livery while they saw a movie and/or went to a "Confectionary
Store."

Church Groups or Classes…

The Big Flats Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches had very
active church groups. The Presbyterians had the Good Will Class; the Baptists,
the Baraca Class for boys 16 to 21, the Philathea Class for girls, and
the Christian Endeavor for young marrieds; the Methodists had the Epworth
League.

These church groups had well remembered picnics each July, down on the
river, or at Wolcott’s Woods. The Baraca Class had a very active basketball
team.

Ice Skating Parties…

Favorite spots for ice skating were at "sixty-six" (where the Jennings
Farm was until recently, off Olcott near the Lackawanna bridge,) Kahlers
Canal, Lowe Pond, and the river by suspension bridge.

Bobsledding…

Henry Farr had a toboggan and bobsled run on his farm back about 25
years ago. For 25c (if you didn’t sneak in) the local youth could follow
the lane behind the house, through the gate, cross the little wooden bridge
spanning Sing Sing Creek, and Hank would pull the toboggans and sleds up
the hill with his tractor. A tower with lights on it furnished the necessary
light and the bobsleds were homemade.

Candy Pulls…

A church group, favored activity, was a taffy pull. Often after the
weekend’s ice-skating party, everyone went for a candy pull too. Zimdall’s
house was the scene of many taffy pulls. (On the Lowe Farm).

Arbor Day Bicycle Races…

An Exciting school sponsored activity was a bicycle race each Arbor
Day. From the knoll in front of Henry Farr’s, the bicycles raced to Minier’s
Store to the finish.

Other fun things headlined the times – bag races, potatoe races, greased
pigs, horse shows, local talent shows and the "After a barn raising dances"
where families flocked for round and square dancing and mighty good food.